New legislation was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by sponsors Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) in a bipartisan effort to modernize existing laws that help reduce discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
House Resolution 1843 is also called the Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal (REPEAL) HIV Discrimination Act. If the legislation passes, it might make it easier to fight HIV discrimination with civil and criminal discriminatory laws with state and federal reviews.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, the existing laws were originally drafted to criminalize people who had intentionally infected others with HIV; however, many people believe that the laws have been applied to other issues beyond criminal HIV infection. Perceived HIV exposure is currently criminalized in 32 U.S. states and two U.S. territories.
The argument is that some of the behaviors in previous legislation discriminate against Americans living with HIV without merit. Sponsors of the bill want to update the laws since some individuals with this sexually transmitted disease (STD) have received disproportionate punishment despite not comitting any harmful acts.
The Human Rights Campaign also noted that knowledge of one's STD status could be used as evidence for an unfair conviction, which could dissuade many people from getting tested for HIV in the first place. Although there have been many strides to inform the public about AIDS and foster understanding for those who live with the infection, the disease still carries a significant stigma, stereotyping and discrimination. Sponsors of the bill hope that a thorough review of criminal HIV infection will help make some of these unwarranted stigmas go away.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 50,000 people are in
